I recently decided I wanted a portable way to check e-mail and surf the web, just in case I need to look up trivia in wikipedia while away from home. Laptops are just too cumbersome for this purpose. I was initially hesitant to consider the iPhone because I have several friends that are tethered to the internet via this means and speak with religious fervor about application such as virtual fish tanks that seemed a little superfluous to me. I failed to see how this device could be useful!
However, once Amazon announced a free kindle app, I was sold--and Apple helped enable this impulse by selling refurbished 2nd Generation iPod Touch units for under $200. The Touch is kind of like a gateway to the iPhone--it connects to the internet via wifi but there is no phone attached. After owning one for just a few weeks I don't understand why everyone in the world doesn't own one. The interface is so intuitive that the device literally becomes an extension of the brain. And it has already enriched my life to a degree I had never dreamed possible! While on a recent work trip to Seattle, for instance, I was able to read the Daily Mail while dining alone in an Indian restaurant, watch YouTube videos while eating hummus at a lesbian bar, and online shop from my hotel room while watching reality TV. What more can you ask for from a gadget?
